


Just Like Waterskiing

by Lampshadez



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Other, Tagged f/f bc 13 is identified as a woman, also tagged other bc her gender is open for interpretation and it’s all valid!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 19:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16878270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lampshadez/pseuds/Lampshadez
Summary: Yasmin Khan knows that she'd travel with the Doctor anywhere for as long as she could.  She also knows that she's been drinking, and Ryan's been drinking, and Graham's been drinking, and the Doctor's been drinking...and all of a sudden they're on an alien beach wearing matching floral shirts and thinking out loud.Did someone say "ridiculous drunk accidentally married AU?"  Because that's what we've got here.  Light and fluffy, but isn't one of those fics where they get together at the end.  Those fics are great and I love them, but in the interest of not baiting anyone I'm saying upfront that's not what's happening here.  Still pretty fluffy though, not gonna lie.





	Just Like Waterskiing

“Oh, brilliant!” the Doctor said when she left the TARDIS and saw both Ryan and Yaz walking toward her.  “You’re both here!”

They both looked around, clearly very surprised by the Doctor’s sudden appearance.

“Wh-where did that come from?!” Ryan asked, stumbling toward the TARDIS.

“Nowhere,” the Doctor said, straightening up a bit.  “Fine, I was in Puerto Rico next year watching _Hamilton_.”

“You got tickets to that?” Yaz asked.  “Can you get me one?”

“Not even I can get more than one ticket to _Hamilton_ ,” the Doctor said.  “Sorry.  What are you two up to?”

“Chips?” Yaz asked, turning to Ryan.

Ryan nodded.  “Chips!”

“Yes, chips!” the Doctor said.  “I love chips!”

They stumbled down the street and the Doctor gave them weird looks.  She pulled her sonic out and scanned the area.

“Has the Earth’s gravity gone off a bit?” she asked.  “Why are you lot walking funny?”

“Doctor, I need to tell you something,” Yaz said, grabbing her by the shoulders.  “Ryan and I have been drinking.”

“Drinking what?”

“Alchol,” Yaz said.  She tried again.  “Alcohol.  Al-co-hol.”

“Yasmin Khan, are you drunk?”

The Doctor scanned her.

“Just a little bit,” Yaz said.

The Doctor looked at her sonic.  “More like a lot,” she said.  She scanned Ryan next.

He danced a bit with the sonic pointed at him.

“Oh, no, yeah, Doctor, I’m well drunk.”

“What?  Why are you two drunk?”

“It’s a Friday night, Doctor,” Yaz said, bumping her with her hip.

“Yeah, Doctor, why aren’t you drunk?” Ryan asked, dancing more towards Yaz and the Doctor.

“I just got here,” the Doctor replied.

“What, they don’t have drinks at _Hamilton_?” Yaz asked, drawing the last word out.

“Is Graham drunk?”

Ryan shrugged.  “He may be, but not with us.”

“Right.”  She hadn’t encountered drunk friends in a while, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.

“Doctor, won’t you take us somewhere?” Yaz asked, like she was reading the Doctor’s thoughts.

“Yeah, to bed,” the Doctor said.

Ryan snickered and Yaz blushed.

“To sleep it off!” the Doctor finished.  “That’s what humans are meant to do when they’re drunk, yeah?  Sleep it off?”

“Or enjoy it while it lasts,” Ryan said.  “Come on, Doctor, please?  Just one other planet while we’re hammered.”

“Yes, Doctor, please?” Yaz asked.

The Doctor looked between them.  She trusted Ryan and Yaz to be able to handle themselves, and she did want to let them have a bit of fun.  And this could be fun.

“Alright,” the Doctor said.  “One holiday planet, no danger, no running.”

Ryan and Yaz high fived.

“But we’re taking Graham, too,” the Doctor said.

“Fine,” Ryan agreed.  He pulled a bottle out of his pocket.  “But you two are going to have to catch up.”

The Doctor smirked a bit.  “I haven’t had Earth alcohol in centuries.”

“Then you’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” Ryan said, handing her the bottle.

**-DW-**

Graham grimaced as he took a sip from the bottle.

“Ryan, you inherited a lot of great things from your grandmother, but her taste in alcohol was not one of them.”

“What are you talking about, Gramps?” Ryan asked.  “That’s the best five quid I’ve ever spent.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense now,” Graham said, taking another sip and powering through.

“Graham, I don’t know what you’re on about but this is delicious,” the Doctor said.  “This was just five quid?”

“Better believe it,” Ryan said, taking the bottle back from Graham and taking a swig.

“So, where to, Doctor?” Yaz asked, leaning hard on the console.

The Doctor made a face and took Yaz by the shoulders and moved her back from the level she was leaning on.  “Nowhere if you keep leaning on the brake."

“This thing has a brake?” Yaz laughed.  “Since when?”

“Since ever,” the Doctor protested, going to hand her bottle off to Yaz, but instead putting it on the console out of Yaz’s reach.  “Though it does move to a bit more of a prominent place every time she redecorates…”

“We are going somewhere though, right?” Graham said.  “Because I could’ve been at home with a glass of good scotch and _Call the Midwife._ ”

“It’s not too late to drop him off, Doctor,” Ryan said.  “We haven’t gone anywhere yet.”

“And we’re off,” the Doctor said, slurring a bit and flipping switches.  “The Planet of Twicks, anyone?”

“Like the candy?” Yaz asked.

“No, like the planet of seven suns, so the sun is always setting.”

“Sounds warm,” Graham said, taking the bottle back and having another drink anyway.

“It’s not, actually, the atmosphere has this really thick layer that keeps the temperature a lovely four thousand degrees Haleskiv.”

“Which is…what?”

“About 21 degrees Celsius,” the Doctor said.  “Give or take.”

“Sounds nice,” Ryan said.

The TARDIS landed.

“Let’s go find out.”

**-DW-**

“This is nice,” Ryan admitted, walking around.  He and Yaz got into their heads that they should all go full tourist, so they were wearing matching floral shirts. 

“I don’t know,” Graham said.  “Doesn’t it feel kind of weird being on alien planet without wearing a jacket?”

“I don’t know, I think I kind of agree with Graham," the Doctor said.  She missed her blue coat.

“You and your jackets!” Ryan said.  “Doctor, does this planet have clubs?”

“Like, a social club?  What hobbies do you have?”

“A nightclub, Doctor,” Ryan said.

The Doctor laughed.  “Ryan, literally every other building on this block is a nightclub.”

“Really?” Yaz asked.

“Okay, we need a plan,” he said.  He and Yaz conferred, and Graham drifted back toward the Doctor.

“Who knew they were such party animals?” the Doctor asked, laughing as she took a drink.

“Eh, we were young once, eh?”  He looked at her.  “You must’ve been nineteen at some point, right?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said.  “But the drinking age on Gallifrey was 104.”

“Right,” Graham said.  He nodded toward her bottle.  “You’re still drinking that?  There’s got to be other drinks at this planet.”

“I don’t know what you’re on about, Graham, this stuff is great.”

**-DW-**

They hit a few clubs and ended up on a beach.  They’d been there for hours but the Doctor was right, it was like the sun was always setting.  It was beautiful.

And it was a perfect way to de-stress.  They all loved travelling with each other, but being constantly on the edge of death and destruction took its toll.  It was nice to let loose sometimes.

And let loose they did.

Graham somehow ended up on top of a table with an adoring crowd below him, cheering him on as he chugged a strange green drink with a viscosity none of them had ever encountered before.  Ryan was somewhere in the crowd below, making sure to take plenty of pictures on his phone.

The Doctor and Yaz hung back a bit.  They were sitting on a bench, chatting and taking in the sights.

“Not gonna get a night like this is Sheffield, are you?” the Doctor laughed.

Yaz shook her head, drinking a glass of water.  “No,” she laughed.  “Definitely not.  Thanks for bringing us.”

“This is fun,” the Doctor said, smiling.  “I know we, on occasion, travel to places where our lives aren’t in constant danger, but this feels different.  Like having real friends.”

“We are real friends,” Yaz said, sitting up a bit and mostly keeping her balance.  She was proud of that.

“No, I know…”

“Doctor, no one signed up to this because we wanted to be in constant danger,” Yaz said.  “It’s for the adventure, the adventure you bring us on.”

The Doctor looked at her.  They were on a crowded beach, but it felt like it was just her and Yaz.  She kept an eye on Graham and Ryan, but they were looking out for each other.  It was her and Yaz on that bench.

“Come on,” Yaz continued.  “You must have loads of friends.”

“I do,” the Doctor said.  Flashes of her friends flashed through her mind – Rose, Martha, Vastra and Jenny.  Then some others flashed through her head, others who didn’t get the comparatively happy ending to their travels – Amy and Rory, Clara, Donna.  She wasn’t sure of what to make of how Bill ended up.  She hoped she was happy, though.

The Doctor cleared her throat.

“Friends come and go, you know?” she said.  She could feel the alcohol talking, she could hear River’s voice echoing, telling her how much she hated showing the damage.  She still did, but she had felt some of her old walls crumbling since she became this her that she was.

Yaz shrugged.  “That’s life, hey?  People come and go.  I reckon they all think they’re better off for knowing you, though.”

The Doctor shook her head.  “I’m better for knowing them.”

“I don’t know about Ryan and Graham,” Yaz said.  “Though they do look to be enjoying themselves.  But I don’t have any plans on going anywhere, Doctor, for what it’s worth.”

The Doctor smiled.  “Thank you, Yaz.”

People were walking past, but one person in front of them stopped.

“What’d you just say?”

“I said ‘thank you’ to Yaz,” the Doctor said.  “This is Yaz, she’s often deserving of a thank you.”

“No, before that,” the person said, turning to Yaz.  “What’d you say?”

“I’m not going anywhere…”  She looked to the Doctor, who shrugged.

“So, you want to travel with her forever?”

Yaz’s eyebrows shot up a bit.  She hadn’t really thought about it in such long term.  But, she couldn’t ever really see herself stopping.

“Yeah,” she admitted.  She turned to the Doctor again.  “I’d travel with you forever, as long as you’ll have me.”

“Yaz, you’re always welcome,” the Doctor said.

“So you’ll travel with her forever?” the person asked.

“Sure, why not,” the Doctor smiled.  “As long as she wants.”

“Great!”  The person was wearing a long jacket and they pulled two long flowers from an inside pocket.  The flowers were unlike anything Yaz had ever seen.  They were beautiful.  The person tied a flower to each of their wrists.  “There you are, bonded forever.  Enjoy your travels.”

“What?” the Doctor asked.

Yaz was looking at the flower.  “What is this?” she muttered.

The Doctor looked after the person in the jacket, who had disappeared into the crowd.

“Uh,” the Doctor said, looking at her own wrist.  “No need to panic, but I think it’s a wedding ring.”

“What?!”

“Oh, I forgot this about the Planet of Twicks!” she yelled, actually smacking her forehead.  “It’s a destination planet, no one lives here.  People only travel here, so here, people express commitment by saying that they’ll always travel with them.”

“We’re married?” Yaz asked.  “We’re space married?”

“…Yes,” the Doctor said.  “In a way.  I’m sorry, Yaz-.”

“In what way?”

“The way that’s legally binding on this planet-.”

“What?!  Doctor!”

“Okay, no need to panic,” the Doctor repeated.  “Let’s all take a breath.”

“Doctor, we just got _married_!”

“Sort of,” the Doctor said.  “It’s…okay, so the Planet of Twicks, it’s a travel planet, yeah?  People come here, they do things like this, they go their separate ways.”

“So, we’re not married?”

“We are,” the Doctor said.  “But it’s not like an Earth wedding.”

“Doctor, explain,” Yaz said.  “You said it’s legally binding.”

“It is,” the Doctor said.  “Here.  For it to be valid anywhere else in this galaxy we have to get it substantiated on another planet.”

“So we’re only a little bit married?”

“Yes!” the Doctor said, grateful for an apt explanation.  “Yes, we’re only a little bit married.  Good description, Yaz.”

Yaz wasn’t amused.  “You know, this is why I’ve never been to Vegas.”

“What?  Scared you’d end up married?”

“Doctor!”

“Marriage means something different here,” the Doctor said.  “It is what it means on Earth, yeah, but it’s also a commitment to travel.  It’s like when people go on holiday and get matching tattoos with their mates.”

“Is this going to turn into a tattoo?”  Yaz looked at her wrist again.

“No,” the Doctor said.  She frowned.  “I don’t think so.”

“Doctor!”

“Yaz, I’m sorry I didn’t realize what that person was doing until it was too late,” the Doctor said.  “But it doesn’t mean what it means on Earth.  It’d only really mean that if we got the wedding substantiated on another planet.  Just here, it just means that we’re travelers together.”

“Okay…” Yaz said, coming around.  “Okay.  So it’s just…not a marriage.  It’s a _commitment_ to travel together.  Yeah?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said.  “That’s all it is.”

“But it’s legally binding.”

“Yes…”

Yaz groaned, but she was coming around to it.  “Okay.  Okay!  That’s fine.”

“Is it?”

“I’m fine with it,” Yaz said.  “Are you fine with it?”

The Doctor shrugged.  “Yeah, I’ve been married before.  What’s one more?”

“Doctor!”

**-DW-**

“We don’t need to tell Ryan and Graham about the wedding,” Yaz said as they approached the other half of Team TARDIS.  “Right?”

“No,” the Doctor said.  “Not if you don’t want to.”

They made it to Ryan and Graham.  While the Doctor and Yaz had sobered up a bit, Ryan and Graham were definitely more drunk.

“Hey!” Graham yelled excitedly.  “What’s up!”

“Yaz, you won’t believe the drinks they have here,” Ryan slurred.  “They taste-they taste like _candy,_ Yaz.  You can’t taste the alcohol _at all,_ Yaz.  At all.  Yaz.”

“Yeah, I can see that, Ryan,” she said, offering him a hand to steady himself.

“What’s this?” Ryan asked, seeing the flower around her wrist.  He was looking around; he couldn’t really focus.  “Wait, the Doctor has one too?”

“You got souvenirs without us?” Graham asked, sounding hurt.

“Uh,” Yaz said, exchanging a look with the Doctor.

“They were a gift,” the Doctor supplied.  “Come on, let’s get you two to the TARDIS.”

**-DW-**

They’d left Ryan and Graham in their respective bedrooms with plenty of water.

Yaz hung out with the Doctor in the console room.

“So, nothing’s really changed…”

“Nope,” the Doctor said.  “These weddings on the Planet of Twicks, it’s one of those things people do on holiday.  Like water skiing!”

“I’ve never been water skiing.”

“But you’ve been married before?” the Doctor joked.

“You have,” Yaz said.  She saw the Doctor’s face fall.  “What happened there?”

The Doctor shrugged. “People come and go, you know.  Including me.”

“I’m sorry, Doctor.”

“It’s fine,” the Doctor said, shaking her head.  “I’m thousands of years old, only fitting that there’s been a few marriages in there.”

“You can talk to me about them, you know,” Yaz said.  “If you miss them or…I don’t know.  Want to remember.”

“I know,” the Doctor said.  “Thank you, Yaz.  I think not, though.”

Yaz nodded.  “Okay.”

They stood there in silence for a little bit, then Yaz spoke again.

“I did mean it,” she said.  “I do want to keep travelling with you.  I could do it forever.”

The Doctor wasn’t sure if it was the last bit of alcohol in her system or the fact that she was now, on at least one planet, legally married to Yasmin Khan, but she was feeling more open than usual. “They all say that.”

“You don’t know the effect you have on people, do you?”

“No, Yaz, I know.”  There was something in the Doctor’s tone that said she knew, and at least some part of her didn’t like it.

Yaz didn’t see why.  Or rather, she chose not to.  She saw what the Doctor saw, she saw how the Doctor so often blamed herself and shut herself off and out and exiled herself.  Yaz saw the positive, though.

“No, Doctor, it’s a good thing,” Yaz said.  “You’re good.  You’re _great._ ”

“Yaz…”

“No, Doctor, I mean it,” Yaz said.  “Yeah, people come and go, but they don’t come in the first place if there isn’t something worth being there for.  You’re worth being there for, and sometimes the universe just gets in the way.”

“I think this is what they call the ‘honeymoon phase’-.”

“Can’t you just feel what you’re feeling?” Yaz cut in.  “Stop running from it, Doctor.  And I don’t mean the bad stuff, I mean the good stuff.  Whatever bad you’ve done, whatever bad that’s happened, you deserve to celebrate the good.  You deserve to enjoy it.”

The Doctor looked at her for a long moment.  She wanted to look away, but she was feeling brave.  Yaz made her feel brave.

“I’m glad you’re here, Yaz.”

“So am I.”

The Doctor smiled.

“So,” Yaz said.  “Do we have to, like, go back there and get a divorce?”

“That was a short honeymoon phase.”

Yaz shrugged.  “I was going to say, I don’t mind if we don’t.”

“You don’t?”

Yaz shook her head.  “It’s only one planet.  And it’s true, I would travel with you forever.”

“I’d travel with you forever, too,” the Doctor said.

“No offense, though, I’m going to take this off,” Yaz said, carefully untying the flower.  “It’s starting to itch.”

“Yeah, they do that,” the Doctor said.  “Those flowers are only found on that beach on that planet.  Elsewhere on that planet, they wilt.  You take them off the planet, they die within hours.”

“Huh,” Yaz said.  “Romantic.”

The Doctor laughed.  “It’ll save well, though, if you press it.”

“Yeah, I think I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> They're always wearing jackets! Like everywhere they go, they're wearing jackets. Also my dumb American ass looked up Celsius conversions for this fic. Also, I don't know much English slang for being drunk but I hope the language was pretty okay. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think!


End file.
